5 Ways to Beat Procrastination

Ever find yourself getting hyped up on caffeine to pull a thorough all-nighter the day before an important submission or an exam? You may just be suffering from a severe case of, procrastination! Fear not, it’s not some inherent systemic defect, just a bad habit that stuck. And like all bad habits, this one too, can be remedied with the right dose of self-control and grit. So, for starters, here are 5, time-tested ways to beat procrastination.

1) Make a List

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There’s nothing more effective for organizing your tangled web of chores, duties and responsibilities than a check-list of those bazillion pending tasks, nagging away at your brain. You can make a list for the day, the week or the month, depending on the amount of work you have. It’s best to work with a manageable length of time, so that you can get right down to tackling each task, head-on.

2) Prioritize

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Working with a list makes more sense if you arrange your tasks in the order of priority according to their deadlines. If you have multiple deadlines for the same day or week, organize them in the order of difficulty. For instance, if numbers aren’t exactly your forte and language is, it’s smart to allot a greater proportion of time to prep for your Trig test than for the co-inciding one on French verbs.

3) Don’t Overestimate the Time You Have

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Tempus fugit! You think you have enough time, but the half an hour break of a procrastinator eventually becomes a 4 hour one, and you end up rushing through your presentation for the next day, only to produce work that is way below your potential. In fact, if your deadline has been stipulated for the 25th, it’s advised that you fool your brain into believing that the deadline is on the 24th, so that the false impression makes you start work, at least a day earlier.

4) Don’t Let Perfectionism Paralyze You

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Some people are hell-bent on perfection to the extent that it works up a debilitating anxiety, that in turn clogs their creative juices, making the task appear more difficult than it actually is. This is cue enough for the Freudian Id to convince the diligent brain to postpone the work for later. Although they may be unaware of it, perfectionists often procrastinate to use the paucity of time as a pretext for their mediocre work. Perfectionism is an admirable trait, but not if it numbs your productivity.

5) Act Immediately

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The biggest challenge for a procrastinator is obviously, execution. Instead of wasting time negotiating with the primitive monkey in your head that loves play and hates work, tape it to a corner of your brain and without much ado, get to work!